After a few short trips through South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and St. Augustine, FL, I finally made my way into Thousand Trails’ Peace River campground located in the tiny town of Wachula, FL!
The town is very small, with all of your typical amenities – Burger King, McDonald’s, and a smaller scale Wal-Mart. The town is about a 3 – 4 mile drive down the road, and has a quaint downtown area with some small businesses, shops, banks, and gas stations. There is about a handful of home cooked restaurants, including a nice little steakhouse my dad and I ate at called Maters. Service was awesome, but the food was just ok.
Getting to Wachula (which Wal-Mart sells an awesome tee-shirt) takes you through some one or two lane country State Roads, and in and out of lots of small towns. The speed limit on the stretch of US-17 ranges from 60 down to 35.
When I arrived, it was pretty late at night due to some tire issues along the way, but, check in was smooth sailing! There was a check in packet with my name on it. While they didn’t have a site picked out for me, they did have a map showing the sites unavailable. Unfortunately, this is probably a third of their sites due to Hurricane Irma leaving an entire section without power and still with flooded sites. However, I will say they have done a very nice job cleaning up the park since the hurricane.
After driving around for some time in the car at night, I was able to find a spot towards the back, but on the roadside. I didn’t want to be in the middle of the park as it looked quite crowded, and the site I found actually had a nice slab of concrete, perfect for the patio. Not many other sites had these.
What I didn’t realize though, until I was fast asleep that evening, was being right on the roadside meant lots of traffic noise! There are an abundance of orange trucks (the trucks that deliver oranges) passing at all hours. And FedEx trucks (double trailers). It’s ok, after the first night or two, you kind of tune it out. Where it does become a problem though, is when you are on conference calls! That’s food for thought next time.
Taking a conference call with an orange truck in the background. Thank goodness for noise cancelling headsets!
Most of the sites seem to be pretty level, while most are just grass, could leave one desiring how level it stays. Most of the entry part of the park is flat and paved with asphalt, but there are several places where you’ll see an abundance of sand like grit. Just make sure to wipe your shoes before going inside!
However, overall, I think the sites were nice. I ended up staying in a few different sites while here. During the high season in December and January I enjoyed staying on the roadside on the non-full hookup sites toward the end. It worked out pretty well for me. I needed LP Gas, so I just choose to dump tanks while headed over to get some LP Gas.
Bocce & Molkky (whatever that is!) Courts at Peace River
The park has a decent amount of amenities. From a nice heated pool, hot tub, laundry facilities that not only take credit card but that you can check in online for the time remaining on each machine (great to see if it’s busy!), but also includes a bocce/molkky court, tennis courts, rec room, adult lodge, (small) camp store, and hiking trails. I’m sure I’ve left off more, but point is there is quite a bit.
Where it seems to be a bit lacking is with the bathhouses. There are two bathhouses, each with one stall and two showers. That’s for the whole park! An entire section (to the left when you enter) do not have full hookups, but do offer a weekly pump out. Others however, could technically all shower in their RV, but you’ll find many still enjoy the comfort of the bathhouse for the extra capacity of running hot water. But, for what it is worth, the bathhouses are quite clean, well maintained, and all tiled with locking doors for each shower. The staff posts a daily cleaning schedule, and they do a great job of sticking to that.
Overall, the campground is quite peaceful, and definitely a campground I’d visit again. There is nothing wrong with enjoying the amazing weather here, (70s and 80s in December), and the fairly level campsites.
Oh, and the pro tip? Watch out for snakes and gators along the river and around the campsites! (Thankfully, they must have all been on vacation when I was there, as I didn’t see one in all my visits here).
Summary
Overall Thousand Trails Peace River is a relaxing and quiet campground. Not quite as secluded as other Thousand Trails, but the staff and park is top notch. A definite must visit!
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